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| Police escort Trinamul candidates out of the SDO office in Kalimpong on Monday. Picture by Chinlop Fudong Lepcha |
Vivek Chhetri and Rajeev Ravidas, TT, July 9: Ten Trinamul Congress candidates and their supporters stayed at Kalimpong police station last night, feeling scared that Gorkha Janmukti Morcha supporters may not allow them to file their nominations on the final day.
“We had booked 10 rooms in a lodge for last night but since we arrived late from Siliguri, the rooms were allotted to others. We tried looking for accommodation in other hotels, but they were all occupied by Morcha supporters. They booked all the rooms to deny us accommodation and stop us from filing our nomination papers,” said Chewang Bhutia, the president of Kalimpong block II committee of Trinamul.
He said they felt “insecure” and decided to stay the night in the Kalimpong police station.
Bhutia, who hails from Pedong, quit the ABGL and joined Trinamul recently. “We are thankful to the police for providing us shelter. There were 51 of us at the police station. Some managed to sleep on the floor but many of us couldn’t catch a wink,” he said.
Asked if they could eat at the police station, Bhutia said none of them had any food.
“The last meal we had was rice and vegetables in Salugarah, near Siliguri, yesterday evening on our way up to Kalimpong. We did not have breakfast today and were escorted from the police station to the subdivisional officer’s office to file the nominations around 9.30am,” Bhutia said.
The Trinamul leader expressed satisfaction that they could file the nominations despite the alleged efforts of the Morcha to prevent them from contesting the elections. “In a democratic society, we have the right to participate in an election. By ensuring our participation in the GTA elections, we have been able to keep alive the spirit of democracy in the hills,” he added.
In Darjeeling also, four Trinamul candidates and two Independents backed by the party were escorted by the police when they went to file in the nominations.
However, the Morcha allegedly played the game of one-upmanship in Kurseong in a different way. Independents allegedly backed by the Morcha flocked to the SDO’s office to file their nominations so that rival candidates would hardy have any time to submit their papers.
I.N. Pradhan, an Independent candidate from Mahanadi-Tindharia, who is fighting against the Morcha, said: “I came early morning and immediately filed my nominations. After I filed, I saw a large number of Morcha supporters coming to file the nominations. They were probably trying to jam the offices.”
Pradhan’s representative was allegedly assaulted on Saturday by Morcha supporters when he had gone to get the nomination papers from the returning officer in Kurseong.
When the time for filing of nominations was over at 3pm today, 43 supposed “Independents” had filed nominations in Kurseong.
The Morcha admitted that most of the Independents were its supporters. “Barring four or five Independents, most others are Morcha supporters,” said Kurseong MLA Rohit Sharma. Asked if it was a deliberate attempt to jam the office, Sharma said: “Definitely not. All the Independents were filing as dummy candidates. Nothing should be read into this.”
Political parties usually put up two dummy candidates in a constituency to ensure the outfit’s participation in the polls in case the official nominee’s papers are rejected during scrutiny.
Even if one were to go by the Morcha’s argument that all the Independents were dummy candidates, it is difficult to understand why more than 10 people were fielded in two constituencies as dummies. In Kurseong-Gidderpahar, 12 Morcha candidates filed nominations as “Independents” and in Mahanadi-Tindharia , 11 people filed.
There were, however, no complaints from rival candidates that they could not file their nomination papers.
Trinamul filed nominations in four constituencies and five Independents also submitted the papers today. There are 10 GTA constituencies in the Kurseong subdivision.
In Siliguri, former minister and CPM leader Asok Bhattacharya today alleged that the Morcha had stopped at least 10 of its candidates in Kalimpong and Kurseong from filing nominations.
“At least 10 candidates of our party could not file their nominations because either they were threatened at home, or were stopped while on way to the SDO offices or those proposing their names were not allowed to enter the Kurseong and Kalimpong towns,” Bhattacharya said.
According to party sources, the CPM could file only one nomination today.
In Kalimpong, a complaint was lodged with the police against Morcha supporters for allegedly misbehaving with the wife of a Trinamul leader.
A police source confirmed registering a diary against some Morcha supporters in connection with the incident.
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